I ran all the way home, ignoring the warning in my mother’s text. Don’t come back home. Run. Run where? My heart was pounding so loud it drowned out every rational thought. If my family was in danger, then I was going to help them. I couldn’t just run and hide while they needed me. The gravel crunched beneath my boots, the cold air slicing through my lungs as I approached the house.
The front door was hanging crooked on one hinge, creaking with every gust of wind. It looked like the house itself had been wounded.
“Mom?” My voice cracked. “Dad? Otto?”
No answer. Just silence… heavy, echoing silence that made the hair on the back of my neck rise. I stepped inside, the wooden floor groaning under my feet. The living room was a wreck. A chair was flipped over, the table shattered, shards of
